Back to Asteroids – Unit 1: Mission Planning
Asteroids – Unit 1 Lesson 1: Setting Mission Objectives
In this lesson: Students will explore the questions that NASA is seeking to answer about the Earth, Sun, Solar System, and Universe. They will also explore the scale of the Universe, with a focus on our Solar System. Finally, students will explore the focus mission for this year’s NASA Student Challenge and why this mission is important to NASA.
Lesson level question: How does the mission we are planning fit into NASA’s larger set of exploration questions?
Engage
Students will create a list of questions as they explore the scale of the Universe.
Explore
Students will investigate the Universe and make a “Universe Inventory.”
Explain
Students will create a distance scale model of the Solar System at a given scale.
Elaborate
Students will learn about the mission that forms the basis of this year’s NASA Student Challenge and discuss in small groups.
Evaluate
Students will discuss their answers to the “big picture” questions as a class and develop a class consensus answer to each question.
Extend (optional)
Explore a different scale model activity for students with particular interest in this topic.